Prize-Winning Chili Recipe!

Spicy Pork & White Bean Chili

4 pounds boneless pork (shoulder, picnic ribs, roast, etc.)

1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapeño peppers

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound great northern beans, soaked and ready to cook

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilis

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and jalapeños

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes 

1 (7 oz) can chipotle en adobo (pureed)

1–2 cups chicken broth (start with 1)

1 (16 oz) can Modern Times Coffee Stout

1 tablespoon medium-hot chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon

Juice of 2–3 limes

1/4 cup brown sugar

Brown pork on all sides in a small amount of olive oil and set aside. Cook bacon until browned and fat is rendered, set aside. Remove and discard all but 1–2 tablespoons of bacon grease from pan. Sauté onion, garlic and chopped peppers in bacon grease until soft. Add bacon, sautéed veggies and all remaining ingredients to crock pot and mix well. Add pork, set crock pot to high and let cook for an hour or so. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer for hours. Serve with hot sauce, crumbled chicharrones and avocado-cilantro-lime crema.

Avocado-Cilantro-Lime Crema

1–2 avocados

16 oz sour cream

8 oz cream cheese

1 bunch cilantro

juice and zest from 2 limes

Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender. Recipe makes a lot, so you could cut in half OR just make the whole batch... it is great on tacos, wraps, sandwiches and more!

Pig Roast!

Our friends bought us a La Caja China Roasting Box as a wedding gift. Needless to say, we had a pig roast party put together as fast as we could put the box together! And it was AMAZING! I'll let the pictures say the rest... along with the recipes for the Cuban mojo we injected the pig with and the dry rub (Adobo Crillo).

Cuban Mojo

• 3 heads garlic, peeled 
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns 
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt 
• 1 cups freshly squeezed sour orange juice
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice 
• 2 teaspoons oregano 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground bay leaves

Place garlic, peppercorns and salt in a large mortar and grind with a pestle to form a paste. (I did not have a mortar and pestle large enough, so I made fast work of this with my NutriBullet.) Stir in orange, lemon and pineapple juices. Add oregano, cumin and bay leaves; stir to combine. Let stand at least 1 hour before using.

Adobo Criollo

• 1/2 cup coarse salt 
• 1/2 cup garlic powder 
• 1/4 cup onion powder 
• 1/4 cup ground oregano 
• 4 teaspoons ground bay leaves 
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix together all ingredients in an airtight container; cover and let stand at least 12 hours before using.

Roasted Hot Sauce

A batch of scorpion peppers given to me by our gardener Fernando + a bowl full of tomatoes = base for a new hot sauce creation made by roasting and blending! For the first batch I used 4 scorpion peppers, 2 hot house tomatoes and a couple hand full of mixed grape tomatoes. Tossed all that with some good olive oil, salt, pepper and dried thyme, roasted it up and pureed in the Nutribullet. It was delicious, but even Fernando though it was really hot! I made a second more tame batch with 2 small but hot jalapeños from out own garden, 1 habanero, a pint of mixed grape tomatoes and about 12 Campari tomatoes (seasoned the same as the first batch). Also delicious but slightly tamer!

Our own pepper garden is about to start producing, so stay tuned for more hot sauce madness!